Methods and apparatus to analyze and present location information

ABSTRACT

Method and apparatus to analyze and present location information in an easy-to-digest manner are disclosed. In one embodiment, each piece of location information can include a piece of location-designating information and a piece of location-related information. Location-designating information is primarily for identifying location. Location-related information is information related to location-designating information. The location-designating information and the location-related information can be supplied by a mobile device. With the help of location-related information, each piece of location-designating information can be more accurately transformed into a label to help identify a location. The amount of location information can be reduced. All of the location-designating information pertaining to a given area can be consolidated into one piece of location-designating information related to the label. Consolidation of some of the information may not occur if a piece of location-related information changes by more than a preset value. To better present location information in an easy-to-digest manner, location information can be compared to standards. Presentation can be on a display with respect to a reference location.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/397,472, filed Mar. 26, 2003, and entitled “METHOD AND APPARATUS TOANALYZE AND PRESENT LOCATION INFORMATION,” which is hereby incorporatedherein by reference, which, in turn, is a Continuation-In-Part of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 09/797,517, filed Feb. 28, 2001, andentitled “METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR LOCATION TRACKING,” which is herebyincorporated herein by reference, and which claims the benefit of U.S.Provisional Patent Application No. 60/185,480, filed Feb. 28, 2000, andentitled “METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR LOCATION TRACKING,” which is herebyincorporated herein by reference.

The prior application Ser. No. 10/397,472 also claims benefit of: (i)U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/444,198, filed Jan. 30, 2003,and entitled “SYSTEM, METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ACQUIRING, PRESENTING,MONITORING, DELIVERING, MANAGING AND USING STATUS INFORMATION,” which ishereby incorporated herein by reference; (ii) U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 60/418,491, filed Oct. 15, 2002, and entitled “SYSTEM,METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ACQUIRING, PRESENTING, MONITORING, DELIVERING,MANAGING AND USING STATUS INFORMATION,” which is hereby incorporatedherein by reference; (iii) U.S. Provisional Patent Application No.60/404,645, filed Aug. 19, 2002, and entitled “SYSTEM, METHOD ANDAPPARATUS FOR ACQUIRING, PRESENTING, MONITORING, DELIVERING, MANAGINGAND USING POSITION AND OTHER INFORMATION,” which is hereby incorporatedherein by reference; and (iv) U.S. Provisional Patent Application No.60/375,998, filed Apr. 24, 2002, and entitled “SYSTEM, METHOD ANDAPPARATUS FOR ACQUIRING, PRESENTING, MANAGING AND USING POSITIONINFORMATION,” which is hereby incorporated herein by reference.

This application is also related to: (i) U.S. patent application Ser.No. 10/397,473, filed Mar. 26, 2003, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,975,941, andentitled “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR INTELLIGENT ACQUISITION OF POSITIONINFORMATION;” (ii) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/397,637, filedMar. 26, 2003, and entitled “METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PROVIDING SHIPMENTTRACKING AND NOTIFICATIONS;” (iii) U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/397,641, filed Mar. 26, 2003, and entitled “METHOD AND SYSTEM FORPERSONALIZED MEDICAL MONITORING AND NOTIFICATIONS THEREFOR;” (iv) U.S.patent application Ser. No. 10/397,640, filed Mar. 26, 2003, andentitled “INEXPENSIVE POSITION SENSING DEVICE;” (v) U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 10/397,474, filed Mar. 26, 2003, and entitled“METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ENHANCED MESSAGING;” (vi) U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 10/397,512, filed Mar. 26, 2003, and entitled “APPLICATIONS OFSTATUS INFORMATION FOR INVENTORY MANAGEMENT.”

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

GPS (Global Positioning System) has been used extensively fornavigation, positioning, and other research applications. It includes agroup of satellites transmitting very precise signals. The nominal GPSOperational Constellation consists of 24 satellites that orbit the earthwith 12-hour periods. These space vehicles (SV's) send radio signalsthat consist of time-tagged data bits marking the time of transmission,and information on the locations of the SV's, at the time they aretransmitted. GPS receivers convert the received SV signals into thereceivers' position. Four satellites are required to compute the fourdimensions of X, Y, Z (position) and time. GPS receivers at preciselyknown reference locations can provide corrections and relativepositioning data for receivers at other locations. Another use of GPS isto provide precise time and frequency standards through the use ofprecise clocks on-board the SV's.

For about two decades, GPS receivers have been used primarily in theoutdoor environment. It is more challenging to use them indoors. Thesignal strengths from the SV's can be much reduced, such as by twoorders of magnitude. A number of companies have been developing indoorGPS receivers. They are enticed by the US Federal CommunicationsCommission's E911 telecommunication initiatives, which require wirelessphone providers to locate any phone making a 911 emergency call.

The E911 initiative will greatly increase the proliferation of GPSdevices. Telematics—the field of mobile services delivered wirelessly toin-vehicle devices—will further help GPS penetrate into differentsectors of the society. One of the most visible manifestations oftelematics is GPS-based navigation systems. They provide turn-by-turndirections and other information wirelessly to vehicle operators.

The amount and availability of GPS information will dramaticallyincrease in the coming years. One challenge this will present is how toeffectively use such information. There are needs for techniques toefficiently and intelligently analyze, process and present GPSinformation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In general terms, the present invention pertains to the analysis oflocation information and/or the presentation of such information in aneasy-to-digest manner.

Each piece of location information can include a piece oflocation-designating information and a piece of location-relatedinformation. Location-designating information is primarily foridentifying location. In one embodiment, the location-designatinginformation is longitudinal and latitudinal coordinates.Location-related information is information related tolocation-designating information. The location-designating informationand the location-related information can be supplied by a mobile device.Multiple pieces of location-designating information can be retrieved andprocessed.

In one embodiment, each piece of location-designating information can betransformed into a label to help identify a location. To better identifylocations, the process of transforming location-designating informationinto labels can use location-related information. For example, themobile device is very close to the boundary of a theatre and abookstore, and is about 40 feet from the ground level. One piece oflocation-related information is information on the environment. Itindicates that the theatre has only one floor, while the bookstore hasthree floors. Since only the bookstore has more than one level and themobile device is about 40 feet from the ground level, the mobile deviceis in the bookstore, not the theatre.

In another embodiment, the amount of location information can bereduced. An entire area can, for example, be represented by a singlelabel. For analysis, all of the location-designating informationpertaining to a given area can be compressed (or consolidated) into onepiece of location-designating information related to the label. Thiscompression (or consolation) process can be impacted or assisted bylocation-related information. For example, if a piece oflocation-related information changes by more than a pre-set value, thecorresponding piece of location information will be retained.

To better present location information in an easy-to-digest manner,location information can be compared to standards. The standards can berelated to time.

Presentation can be visually on a display with respect to a referencelocation. For example, the amount of detail displayed between thelocation of the mobile device and the reference location can dynamicallychange. This change can depend on the distance between the location ofthe mobile device and the reference location. Such an implementation ishelpful particularly in situations when the size of the display isfixed.

The invention can be implemented in numerous ways, including as amethod, system, device, or computer readable medium. Differentembodiments of the invention will be discussed in subsequent sections.

Other aspects and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent from the following detailed description, which, when taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings, illustrates by way ofexamples the principles of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1(a) shows one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 1(b) is a flow diagram of label processing according to oneembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 shows examples of location-related information to help identify alocation in the present invention.

FIG. 3(a) shows one embodiment of compressing location information inthe present invention.

FIG. 3(b) illustrates an exemplary path of movement of alocation-designating device over a period of time.

FIG. 3(c) is a flow diagram of consolidation processing according to oneembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 shows embodiments regarding retaining location information in thepresent information.

FIG. 5 shows embodiments of attaching location information to otherinformation in the present invention.

FIG. 6 shows examples of standards compared to location information inthe present information.

FIG. 7 shows embodiments related to the presentation of locationinformation in the present invention.

FIG. 8 shows one embodiment of using location information to calibrate acompass in the present invention.

Same numerals in FIGS. 1-8 are assigned to similar elements in all thefigures. Embodiments of the invention are discussed below with referenceto FIGS. 1-8. However, those skilled in the art will readily appreciatethat the detailed description given herein with respect to these figuresis for explanatory purposes as the invention extends beyond theselimited embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention pertains to the analysis of location informationand/or the presentation of such information in an easy-to-digest manner.In one embodiment, there are two types of location information. One typeis location-designating information, and the other is location-relatedinformation. Location-designating information is primarily foridentifying locations. The location-designating information can belongitudinal and latitudinal co-ordinates, or raw measurements (orpseudo-ranges) from GPS satellites. Location-related information isadditional information that is related to a location. As will beexplained in detail below, the location-designating information and thelocation-related information can be used in analyzing and presentinglocation information.

There can be a number of ways to generate location-related information.Some of the information can be automatically captured by additionalsensors. Other can be entered by a person. For example, a user with amobile device is in a bookstore. The mobile device is location-aware(e.g., GPS enabled) and can capture location-designating information.One type of location-aware mobile device is a mobile device thatincludes a GPS device (or GPS receiver). The user can add comments aboutthe bookstore, or enter personal information and digitized pictures intohis mobile device. The URL of the bookstore can be included. The usercan be next to a house with a Wi-Fi network that allows the mobiledevice to get online. These can all be information related to thelocation, and can be automatically provided, or entered by the user.Such location-related information can be coupled to location-designatinginformation, such as for identifying the location of the bookstore.

The company or organization at the location can broadcast certaininformation for attachment. For example, the bookstore can broadcast theURL of its website, or of special offers using the Bluetooth standards.Assume that the mobile device has Bluetooth technologies, and isBluetooth enabled. With authorized reception of data, the mobile devicecan capture the broadcast signal and attach the information as a pieceof location-related information.

Other sensors can be coupled to the mobile device to capturelocation-related information. For example, there can be a temperaturesensor, a digital compass, a humidity sensor, a pressure sensor, awind-speed sensor, an acceleration sensor or an accelerometer, achemical sensor detecting chemical substance, a mechanical stresssensor, and/or other sensors to provide location-related information.The sensor data can be electronically coupled to correspondinglocation-designating information as location-related information.

Some of these sensors can be micro-electro-mechanical systems ormicromachines. These sensors can be integrated with driving, controllingand signal processing electronics, and the integration can bemonolithic.

The present invention can be implemented in a computing system. Thecomputing system can be a standalone computing apparatus, a servercomputer, a client computer, a server computer with one or more clientcomputers, or a computer in a peer-to-peer network. A client computercan be a thin-client. A client computer communicates to the servercomputer through a communication link or computer network. In oneembodiment, a server computer, which can be software and/or hardware, iscapable of responding to a communication initiated by a client computerwith respect to an application. Similarly, a client computer, which canbe software and/or hardware, is capable of initiating communication witha server computer with respect to an application. The computing systemcan also be a handheld computer, a personal digital assistant or acellular phone.

The computing system can include a bus connecting a number ofcomponents, such as a processing unit, a main memory, an I/O controller,a peripheral controller, a graphics adapter, a circuit board and anetwork interface adapter. The I/O controller can be connected tocomponents, such as a hard disk drive or a floppy disk drive. Theperipheral controller can be connected to one or more peripheralcomponents, such as a keyboard or a pointing device. The graphicsadapter can be connected to a monitor. The circuit board can be coupledto audio signals; and the network interface adapter can be connected tothe network, which can be the Internet, an intranet, or other forms ofnetworks. The processing unit can be an application specific chip. Thecomputing system can include more than one processor, and can processinformation through parallel processing.

The present invention can also be implemented as a computer readablemedium including at least computer program code for analyzing and/orpresenting location information according to different embodimentsdescribed.

FIG. 1(a) shows a location resolution system 100 according to oneembodiment of the present invention. The location resolution system 100includes a retriever 102 to retrieve location information, and atransformer 104 to transform location-designating information intolabels. Typically, location-designating information includes a set ofnumerical values. They can be raw measurements from GPS devices, orlongitudinal and latitudinal coordinates, or other numericalrepresentation of locations. It is not easy for a person to know where alocation is just by looking at these numerical values.

In one embodiment of the present invention, labels are representationsof locations that are easier to understand than the numericalrepresentations. For example, instead of the set of longitudinal andlatitudinal coordinates—W 122° 26′ 52.9″ and N 37° 48′11.2″—itscorresponding label can be the Exploratorium, the name of the place(e.g., business, home or other point of interest) with that set ofcoordinates. A label can be the physical address of the place. In thecase of the Exploratorium, it is 3601 Lyon Street, San Francisco, Calif.94123. Labels can help people better identify a place than a set ofnumbers.

In transforming location-designating information into labels, thetransformer can access a location database. In one embodiment, apreviously-created database maps location-designating information, suchas longitudinal and latitudinal co-ordinates, to their correspondinglabels. The location database can be in the mobile device or in a remoteserver wirelessly coupled to the mobile device. Access to the locationdatabase can be restricted through password protection or othertechniques.

The system identifies the labels corresponding to location-designatinginformation, and retrieves such information from the database. Thesystem can be in the mobile device or it can be in a remote server.Labels can then replace the location-designating information, and cancouple to the corresponding location-related information. For example,the location-related information can be stored along with the labels inthe mobile device, such as a personal-digital assistant. In anotherexample, the location-related information is stored along with thelabels in a remote computer.

In one embodiment, the location information can then be queried by aquery processor. The query processor can be used by a person to querythe information. As an example, one can search for the label,“Exploratorium”. The following information can be retrieved in a tableformat: Location Exploratorium Address 3601 Lyon Street, San Francisco,CA 94123 GPS co-ordinates W 122° 26′ 52.9″ N 37° 48′ 11.2″ Web sitewww.exploratorium.edu Miscellaneous ... information

A history of when the user was at the location can also be retrieved, asexemplified by the following table: From To Date On Comments OtherInformation 1:05 pm 3:02 pm Feb. 2, 2002 Saturday Lucas likes the Apicture of Lucas we place. Should took outside: visit more often.Lucas.tif 2:00 pm 3:10 pm Mar. 2, 2002 Monday Andy was A web site onhuman fascinated by anatomy: the anatomy of http://www.bartleby.com/ ahuman body. 107/

The information can be queried in different ways. For example, one canfind out where the user was on Mar. 2, 2002 at 3 pm through standardsearching algorithms.

FIG. 1(b) is a flow diagram of label processing 120 according to oneembodiment of the present invention. The process 120 can be performed ona server or a client.

The label processing 120 initially obtains 122location coordinatesprovided by the mobile device. The mobile device is location aware andthus typically captures location coordinates. Additionally,location-related information is obtained 124. The location-relatedinformation is associated with the location coordinates. Thelocation-related information can also be provided by the mobile device.For example, the mobile device can include one or more sensors or inputdevices to acquire the location-related information. Then a locationlabel can be acquired 126 for the location coordinates based on thelocation coordinates and the location related information.

Through use of both the location coordinates and the location-relatedinformation, more accurate location labels are able to be acquired. Thelocation labels are more descriptive of actual location and are moreuser-friendly than the location coordinates. The acquisition of locationlabels can also be considered as a transformation of locationcoordinates into location labels.

In many situations, it may not be clear where a location correspondingto a piece of location-designating information really is. The resolutionof GPS devices can have errors of 15 meters or more. Based on thelocation-designating information, the user may be at one or morelocations. For example, a multi-story bookstore is directly adjacent toa single-story theatre. The user with a mobile device, such as a cellphone having a GPS device, might be standing at a window of thebookstore, with the window facing the theatre. The cell phone cantransmit the location-designating information or the correspondinglabels to a remote system of the invention. Based on the accuracy of theGPS device, the system is aware that the user is in the vicinity of thebookstore and the theatre. But the system may not be able to pinpointwhether the user is in the bookstore or the theatre.

FIG. 2 shows examples of location-related information to help identify alocation. One approach is to use a piece of information regarding theenvironment 154 where the person is located. Location-designatinginformation from a GPS device can identify not only the longitudinal andlatitudinal coordinates, but also the elevation. Assume the elevationcoordinate indicates that the person is about 40 feet from the groundlevel. Based on information regarding the environment, only thebookstore has more than one level, the user is in the bookstore. Thus,depending on the location-related information of the bookstore havingmulti-story, the transformer identifies the bookstore as the correctlocation. In this example, the name of the bookstore can be thetransformed label.

Another approach to better define a location is to use the time 152information provided by GPS. For example, at time x, the user is closeto the junction of the theatre and the bookstore. Assume at time (x+10seconds), the person has moved to the center of the bookstore. Based onthis second piece of information, the system infers that at time x, theuser was in the bookstore, not the theatre. In this approach, locationinformation at different time frames are evaluated or collected tobetter define a location.

Yet another approach to better define a location is to use direction 156information. Again, assume that the user at the junction of the theatreand the bookstore. One rule can be that while the user is at thejunction, the user is in the bookstore if he is moving in the directionof the bookstore. One approach to measure direction depends on takingtwo pieces of location information at two different time frames, such as5 seconds apart. Based on the second location, the direction of travelat the first location can be identified.

Instead of using location information at different time frames,direction 156 can be provided by a direction sensor (e.g., digitalcompass) in the mobile device (e.g., cell phone). Such directioninformation can be coupled to the location-designating information, andtransmitted to another computing apparatus to have the locationinformation analyzed. In another embodiment, the information is nottransmitted, but is analyzed in the mobile device. Based on theanalysis, the mobile device can display the label on its screen.

It could also be up to the user 158 to better define the location. Themobile device can identify a few choices for the user to select. Forexample, a display on the mobile device can show the options of both thebookstore and the theatre. The user can select one of them by using apointing device on a digitizer, a scrolling function to allow selection,or a voice recognition system, where the user can verbally make theselection.

Also, a history 160 of prior locations or frequently visited locationscould be used to better define the location. For example, based on thehistory, the user visits a bookstore at least ten times more than itsadjacent theatre. Then, if the location-designating informationindicates that the user can be in the bookstore or in its adjacenttheatre, one rule will assume the user to be in the bookstore. Thehistory 160 can also be used to make processing more efficient. Forexample, if the history 160 indicates that the current location is sameor proximate to a prior location, the current location can be deemed tobe the same as the prior location, typically with minimal processing.

The amount of location information can be quite large. In oneembodiment, a system of the invention also includes a compressor tocompress the amount of location information.

FIG. 3(a) shows one embodiment of compressing location informationaccording to one embodiment of the present invention. In this approach,the user with a mobile device coupled to a GPS device is in an area fora duration of time 202. During this time period, the device collectssets of location information, each at a specific time. Through analysis,it has been determined that the device is in the same area during thistime period. For example, every set of longitudinal and latitudinalcoordinates is mapped to the same label. The compressor will compressall of the location-designating information 204 to one set, indicatingthe device being in the area during that time period.

In one approach, the compressor retrieves sets of longitudinal andlatitudinal co-ordinates of the GPS device, and transforms them tolabels. As the compressor transforms a set of longitudinal andlatitudinal coordinates of a piece of location information into a label,it also compares that label with the label from the immediately priortime. If the two labels are the same, the compressor will not store thelocation information of that label for additional analysis. In oneembodiment, additional pieces of location-designating information in thesame zone as the immediately earlier piece will not be further analyzed.If two labels are the same, they can be considered to be in the samezone; if two labels are within a certain pre-determined distance fromone another, they can be considered as to be in the same zone; or if thedistance between the two sets is less than a pre-set value, again, theycan be considered as to be in the same zone.

In another approach, if the distance between two sets oflocation-designating information is less than a pre-set value (e.g.,predetermined value, tolerance, range or offset), the compressor willnot store the second piece of location information, which is thelocation information at a later time. This process can continue. Forexample, the compressor can determine the distance between a third setand the first set to be still less than the pre-set value. Again, thethird set of location information need not be stored.

Under certain conditions, even if the device has not moved out of anarea designated by a label, there might still be changes in certaininformation, warranting the keeping of location information, or at leastsome portion of it. For example, the user is transportinghumidity-sensitive chemicals within a certain area of the city, andsuddenly it rains heavily, significantly changing the humidity. It mightbe desirable to be aware of the location and time when such changesoccurred.

FIG. 3(b) illustrates an exemplary path 350 of movement of alocation-designating device over a period of time. Namely, the exemplarypath 350 is composed of a sequence of eight (8) locations wherelocation-designating information and location-related information werecaptured. A sequence of locations of a path can be processed to compresswhat would otherwise be large and unmanageable amounts of information.Once compressed, the quantity of data is reduced and the information ismore user-friendly. Table 1 provided below illustrates exemplarylocation-designating information and location-related information thathave been captured for the eight (8) locations shown in FIG. 3(b). TABLE1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Label — — — — — — — — Long. X1 X2 X3 X4 X5 X6 X7 X8Lat. Y1 Y2 Y2 Y4 Y5 Y6 Y7 Y8 Time 1.00 pm 1.15 pm 1:30 pm 1:45 pm 2.00pm 2:15 pm 2:30 pm 2:45 pm Date Jan. 1, 2002 Jan. 1, 2002 Jan. 1, 2002Jan. 1, 2002 Jan. 1, 2002 Jan. 1, 2002 Jan. 1, 2002 Jan. 1, 2002 Temp.90 90 90 89 89 88 88 87 Other — — — — — — — —

The data stored in the Table 1 can represent the raw data provided bythe location-designating device. At this point, in this embodiment, thedescriptive labels are not known, but the longitude and latitudecoordinates are known (e.g., provided by GPS device). The date and timecan be provided by a GPS device or by a clock within thelocation-designating device. Further, other sensors can provide variousother location-related information. In this example, the otherlocation-related information includes at least temperature and an“other” category to represent one or more other pieces of information.

The data stored in Table 1 can then be compressed to a more compact andmanageable form. Table 2 provided below illustrates exemplarycompression processing on the data within Table 1. TABLE 2 point 1 2 3 45 6 Label Exploratorium, RT. 101, Rt. 101, Rt. 101, 7Eleven, Home, SFSo. SF Menlo Mountain Saratoga, Saratoga, Park View, CA CA CA Long. — —— — — — Lat. — — — — — — Time 1.00-1:30 pm 1:45 pm 2.00 pm 2:15 pm 2:30pm 2:45 pm Date Jan. 1, 2002 Jan. 1, 2002 Jan. 1, 2002 Jan. 1, 2002 Jan.1, 2002 Jan. 1, 2002 Temp. 90 89 89 88 88 87 Other — — — — — —

As shown, the locations 1-3 in Table 1, along the path 350 as shown inFIG. 3(b), are very close to one another and such is reflected by thelongitude and latitude coordinates for these locations. Hence, byexamining the first 3 locations, the compressor determines that theselocation are to be treated as the same location. Here, based oninformation from a location database, assume that the location is theExploratorium in San Francisco, Calif. In effect, these location pointscan collapse into a single location point. However, any differencebetween the individual location points (such as their location-relatedinformation) can be preserved if desired. The other locations 4-8 inTable 1 (now locations 2-6 in Table 2) are deemed to represent differentlocations and are individually processed for labels. Once a label isidentified, the longitude and latitude coordinates can be eliminated ifdesired.

The exemplary compression processing shown with Table 2 is only onesimplified example; hence, it should be understood that compressionprocessing can be performed in a wide variety of different ways.

FIG. 3(c) is a flow diagram of consolidation processing 360 according toone embodiment of the invention. The consolidation processing 360 can beperformed on a server or a client or a computing device in apeer-to-peer network.

The consolidation processing 360 initially obtains a series ofinformation points 362. The series can be ordered based on the time eachpoint is acquired. The series of information points are, for example,obtained from storage or directly from a mobile device. Each of theinformation points typically has location-designating information andlocation-related information. Next, the location-designating informationfor each of the information points is examined 364. A decision 366 thendetermines whether any of the information points should be combined.Here, in this embodiment, the decision 366 is based on thelocation-designation information for the information points. Forexample, if two consecutive location-designation information aresubstantially matched, the two information points should be combined.One rule regarding matching can be that if two consecutivelocation-designation information are close to each other, such as within5 meters apart, they are considered as substantially matched. Anotherrule can be that if two consecutive pieces of location-designationinformation are in the same area, point of interest or label, they areconsidered substantially matched.

In another embodiment, the decision 366 can be based on not only thelocation-designation information but also the location-relatedinformation. If two consecutive pieces of location-designationinformation and location-related information are substantially matched,the two information points should be combined. Different thresholds canbe set to determine if location-related information from differentpoints are substantially matched. For example, the location-relatedinformation is the temperature of the environment. One rule can be thatif the temperatures of two consecutive points are close to each other,such as setting the threshold to be 3 degrees, the location-relatedinformation from the two points are considered substantially matched.Another rule can be that if the difference between two consecutivepieces of location-related information is less than a certain percent,such as 3%, of the value of the first piece of location-relatedinformation, the two pieces of location-related information areconsidered substantially matched.

In any case, when the decision 366 determines that some of theinformation points should be combined, the two or more of theinformation points are combined 368. On the other hand, the informationpoints are not combined when the decision 366 determines that theseinformation points should not be combined.

Once information points are combined, the resulting information pointcan be a normal information point (with perhaps additional data) or acompound information point (retaining some or all of the data of theinformation points being combined). For example, information under eachof the locations in Table 1 can be considered information under aninformation point. Information points 1-3 under Table 1 are combinedinto information point 1 under Table 2. The new information 1 can beconsidered a compound information point because it retains some of thetime information of points combined. In any case, the combining ofinformation points operates to consolidate the series of informationpoints such that the data is more compact and/or better organized.

FIG. 4 shows examples of location-related information 250 regardingconsolidation. For example, the location-related information can includetemperature 252, humidity 254, direction, wind speed, time, user-input,chemicals, acceleration and pressure 256. Some of the location-relatedinformation is information regarding the environment where thelocation-designating device is located, such as temperature, humidity,wind speed, chemicals, and atmospheric pressure, tire pressure or othertypes of pressures. Other of the location-related information canpertain to the location-designating device itself, such as theacceleration of the device, or the pressure being asserted on thedevice. Examples of other sensors to provide related information includecarbon monoxide detectors, liquid sensors, metal detectors, colorsensors, scent sensors, light sensors, pattern sensors, tactile sensors,sound sensors, motion detectors, smoke sensors, particle sensors andradiation detectors, such as infrared detectors. Related information canbe captured by the corresponding sensors, with the related-informationcoupled to location-designating information. The coupling can beachieved wirelessly. For example, a chemical sensor attached to apackage can transmit the amount of certain gaseous chemicals throughBluetooth or WiFi technologies to the location-designating device, whichis also coupled to the package.

The following provides additional examples of location-relatedinformation that impact consolidation or compression, and are used indetermining to retain location information 256. An administrator (e.g.,user) can set a threshold for a location-related information. Forexample, a rule the administrator sets for the compressor can be: Fromposition A to position B, if the temperature at any position changes bymore than x degrees from that at point A, keep the location informationat that position. Another rule can be: During any one-hour period, keepthe location information where the humidity changes by, such as, morethan 50% from that at the beginning of that hour. A third rule for athreshold can be that if time has elapsed by, such as, 1 hour, from thetime when a piece of location information has been retained, keep thenew location information. Another rule for a threshold can be that if acertain type of chemical exceeds a certain amount, keep the locationinformation. Yet another rule can be that if a user has enteredinformation at a specific location, keep the location information. Inthis case, the threshold can be set, for example, to zero or onecharacter difference in user entry. If there is any changes in userentry, such as from not entering anything to inputting something, or toinputting something different, the location information at that positioncan be kept.

Location information collected can be attached to other information.FIG. 6 shows a few embodiments of attaching certain location information350 to other information. For example, labels can be attached to emails352, phone calls 354, or other types of messages, when they are sent.Then, received emails not only indicate who sent them, they would alsoindicate the locations from where they were sent. Emails and phone callscan then be sorted 356 based on locations. In one embodiment, thesorting can be alphabetical, such as through the labels.

To help users digest location information, sometimes it is advantageousto compare them to standards. In one embodiment, a system of theinvention includes a comparator for comparing location information withstandards. FIG. 6 shows examples of standards for comparison. In oneexample, a label represents a five-mile strip (portion) of a specifichighway. The average amount of time T 302 to travel through thatfive-mile strip is known. The user drives his car through the strip. Thetime he enters and exits that label is stored, and their difference iscompared to T. If the difference is more than a pre-set threshold, anotification can be sent to the user. Similarly, the standard can be thespeed 304 of a typical car traveling through that strip.

In another example, the amount of time can be that of an item on theshelf of a company, such as a supermarket. The location of that item ismonitored.

Standard deviations, 306, can also be tracked. This can be the standarddeviation of the travel time of a specific car through the strip duringthe last two months. If the standard deviation is more than a pre-setthreshold, the driver can be notified.

FIG. 7 shows embodiments related to the presentation 400 of locationinformation. In one embodiment, location information can be presentedchronologically on a map 402. Location-related information can becoupled to the corresponding labels and displayed on the map 404. Forexample, a piano is shipped from San Francisco to Toyko. The map canshow chronologically where the piano is at different times. Next to theshipping path, there can be two other line graphs, one showing thehumidity, and the other showing the temperature at the correspondinglocation and time. The location-related information can also be coupledto the corresponding labels and displayed as a link or visual indicatorwhich is selectable to cause the location-related information to bedisplayed,

The presentation can be in a tabulated format, such as in a spreadsheet.Presentation can be in graphical formats, such as in bar charts or piecharts, in two or more dimensions.

Location information where a mobile device enters and exits a label canbe presented. Location information where there are changes exceedingthresholds in location-related information can also be shown.

The display of location-related information can be through clickableicons. 404 on a web site. For example, the user was in the Exploratoriumat 4 pm. A small icon representing the Exploratorium can be displayednext to the location of the chart indicating where the user was at 4 pm.Clicking the icon would lead one to the web site of the Exploratorium.

Location information can be displayed with their standards 406. Forexample, a display can show the speed of a car as a function oflocation. Next to that, there can be another line showing standardspeeds at the different locations.

In one embodiment, the display size can be modified 408. For example,the screen on a handheld device can be small. When the user is in a car,the user can dock the device, which can electronically couple the deviceto a larger screen in the car for viewing.

In another embodiment, the locations of a GPS device are displayed withrespect to a specific location. The amount of details displayed betweenthe locations of the GPS device and the specific location candynamically change 410. This change can depend on the distances betweenthe locations of the GPS device and the specific location. The amount ofdetails can be defined as the density of the points of interest shown inan area. Points of interest can include the name of a street, the nameof a park or other designations.

As an example, the number of labels shown between the locations of theGPS device and the specific location depends on the distances betweenthe locations and the specific location. If the GPS device is very faraway from the specific location, there will be many labels in between.With the display size being fixed, if all of the labels are shown, thedisplay can be cluttered. So, very few labels should be shown. However,as the GPS device approaches the specific location, the ratio of labelsbeing shown and the total number of labels between the locationsincreases. This can be done dynamically, depending on the separationdistance. One way is to fix the number of labels to be shown on thedisplay to be fewer than a predetermined number (e.g., 10). If there aremore than the predetermined number of labels to be shown, certain labelscan be skipped, such as every other one. If there are 100 labels, andonly 10 can be shown, then every 10^(th) label can be selected to beshown. In this example, even a label is in between the GPS device andthe specific location, the label may not be displayed. In other words,whether a label between the location of the GPS device and the specificlocation is displayed or not depends on the distance between thelocation of the GPS device and the specific location. Note that whethera label is displayed or not can also depend on user preferences. Theuser can require a label to be shown if the label is between thelocation of the GPS device and the specific location.

In another example, the specific location is the location of another GPSdevice. That specific location can change as the other GPS device ismoved.

Location information can be dynamically generated. As the GPS devicemoves, location information can be generated. So the presentation oflocation information can change as a function of time.

In a number of embodiments, a label identifies locations that aretwo-dimensional. However, a label can identify a three-dimensionalvolume. In other words, elevation coordinates can be included.

The present invention has described one or more GPS devices aslocation-designating devices to identify a location. However, thepresent invention is not limited to using one or more GPS devices toidentify a location. In certain situations, other wireless or mobiledevices can also serve as location-designating devices, such as devicesbased on GSM technologies or Wi-Fi technologies. Through the techniquesof triangulation, these devices can also designate a location. Suchtriangulation techniques should be known to those skilled in the art.

Note that the process of transforming location coordinates into labelsand the process of using additional information to help identify alocation can be performed by two separate entities. In other words, acorporation can be responsible to transform location coordinates intolabels. Then another corporation is responsible to clarify the locationcorresponding to a piece of location-designating information, using, forexample, location-related information.

A number of embodiments have been described where the process oftransforming location coordinates into labels or the process ofcompressing depends on a piece of location-related information. Notethat such processes can depend on more than one piece oflocation-related information. Also, the multiple pieces oflocation-related information can be of different types. For example, theprocess of transforming can depend on time and a piece of informationregarding the environment.

As described above, since multiple pieces of location information from aGPS device can identify direction 450, the GPS device can be used tocalibrate a digital compass, 452, as illustrated in FIG. 8. A GPS devicecan provide multiple location information as a function of time. If theperson carrying the device is traveling along a certain constantdirection, the multiple location information will be able to identifythat direction. The direction information can then be used to calibratea digital compass, as long as the compass is attached to, or travelingin the same direction as, the GPS device.

The above-described systems, devices, methods and processes can be usedtogether with other aspects of a monitoring system, including thevarious aspects described in: (i) U.S. Provisional Patent ApplicationNo. 60/444,198, filed Jan. 30, 2003, and entitled “SYSTEM, METHOD ANDAPPARATUS FOR ACQUIRING, PRESENTING, MONITORING, DELIVERING, MANAGINGAND USING STATUS INFORMATION,” which is hereby incorporated herein byreference; (ii) U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/418,491,filed Oct. 15, 2002, and entitled “SYSTEM, METHOD AND APPARATUS FORACQUIRING, PRESENTING, MONITORING, DELIVERING, MANAGING AND USING STATUSINFORMATION,” which is hereby incorporated herein by reference; (iii)U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/404,645, filed Aug. 19, 2002,and entitled “SYSTEM, METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ACQUIRING, PRESENTING,MONITORING, DELIVERING, MANAGING AND USING POSITION AND OTHERINFORMATION,” which is hereby incorporated herein by reference; and (iv)U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/375,998, filed Apr. 24, 2002,and entitled “SYSTEM, METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ACQUIRING, PRESENTING,MANAGING AND USING POSITION INFORMATION,” which is hereby incorporatedherein by reference.

The various embodiments, implementations, features and aspects of theinvention noted above (including those incorporated by reference) can becombined in various ways or used separately. Those skilled in the artwill understand from the description that the invention can be equallyapplied to or used in other various different settings with respect tovarious combinations, embodiments, implementations or features providedin the description herein.

The invention can be implemented in software, hardware or a combinationof hardware and software. The invention, or at least certain softwareportions of the invention, can also be embodied as computer readablecode on a computer readable medium. The computer readable medium is anydata storage device that can store data which can thereafter be read bya computer system. Examples of the computer readable medium includeread-only memory, random-access memory, CD-ROMs, magnetic tape, opticaldata storage devices, and carrier waves. The computer readable mediumcan also be distributed over network-coupled computer systems so thatthe computer readable code is stored and executed in a distributedfashion.

Other embodiments of the invention will be apparent to those skilled inthe art from a consideration of this specification or practice of theinvention disclosed herein. It is intended that the specification andexamples be considered as exemplary only, with the true scope and spiritof the invention being indicated by the following claims.

1. A computer-implemented method comprising: retrieving a piece oflocation-designating information acquired by a device for identifying alocation of the device; transforming the piece of location-designatinginformation into a label for identifying the location; and associatingthe label to an electronic message to be sent by a sender to arecipient, wherein the device is GPS-enabled, wherein the label is aname of the location, wherein the label is stored in an electronicstorage to allow the process of transforming to access it, and whereinthe electronic message includes the name of the sender of the electronicmessage and the name of the location.
 2. A computer-implemented methodas recited in claim 1, wherein the location is associated with thelocation from where the electronic message is sent.
 3. Acomputer-implemented method as recited in claim 1, wherein theelectronic message is an electronic mail.
 4. A computer-implementedmethod as recited in claim 1, wherein the electronic message is atelephone call.
 5. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 1further comprising associating another label to another electronicmessage to be sent by the sender, wherein the method further compriseselectronically sorting the electronic messages based on the associatedlabels.
 6. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 1 furthercomprising retrieving a piece of location-related information associatedwith the piece of location-designating information, wherein the piece oflocation-related information is acquired by an auxiliary sensor in thedevice.
 7. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 1 furthercomprising wirelessly connecting the device to the Internet via Wi-Ficircuitry in the device.
 8. A computer-implemented method as recited inclaim 1 further comprising wirelessly connecting the device to aBluetooth network via Bluetooth circuitry in the device.
 9. Acomputer-implemented method as recited in claim 1 further comprisingwirelessly connecting the device to a cellular network via circuitry inthe device.
 10. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 1further comprising retrieving an image taken by an image sensor in thedevice, wherein the image is associated with the piece oflocation-designating information.
 11. A computer-implemented methodpertaining to images with location information, comprising: retrievingan image captured by a device; retrieving a piece oflocation-designating information, which is acquired by the device, andwhich is associated with the location where the image was captured;transforming the piece of the location designating information into alabel; and allowing the image to be accessed via the label, wherein thedevice is GPS-enabled, wherein the label is stored in an electronicstorage to allow the process of transforming to access it, wherein thelabel is the name of the location, and wherein the device includes atleast a camera.
 12. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 11further comprising providing the image with the corresponding label fordisplay on a display device.
 13. A computer-implemented method asrecited in claim 11 further comprising: keeping track of the time whenthe image is captured by the device; and associating the time with itscorresponding image and its corresponding label.
 14. Acomputer-implemented method as recited in claim 11 further comprising:retrieving another image captured by the device; retrieving anotherpiece of location-designating information, which is acquired by thedevice, and which is associated with the location where the anotherimage was captured; and transforming the another piece oflocation-designating information into another label, wherein the methodfurther comprises: electronically searching the labels to identify aparticular label; and retrieving the image corresponding to theparticular label.
 15. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim11 further comprising retrieving a piece of location-related informationacquired by an auxiliary sensor in the device, wherein the piece oflocation-related information is associated with a piece oflocation-designating information.
 16. A computer-implemented method asrecited in claim 15 wherein at least one piece of location-relatedinformation provides direction information regarding the device.
 17. Acomputer-implemented method as recited in claim 15 wherein at least onepiece of location-related information provides altitude informationregarding the device.
 18. A method for processing location informationpertaining to images captured by an image acquisition device, the imageacquisition device including a GPS receiver, said method comprising:receiving at least one image previously captured by the imageacquisition device, the image associated with location data, thelocation data being obtained by the image acquisition device using theGPS receiver; accessing the location data associated with the image;converting the location data to a user-friendly name for a locationcorresponding to the location data; storing the image with theuser-friendly name on a server whereby the image can be accessed ordisplayed via the user-friendly name.
 19. A method as recited in claim18, wherein said converting accesses a location database that linkslocation data to user-friendly names.
 20. A method as recited in claim19, wherein the server stores a plurality of pictures with theiruser-friendly names, which can be electronically searched based onlocation information.
 21. A method as recited in claim 18, wherein theuser-friendly name is a point of interest.
 22. A method as recited inclaim 18, wherein the image has a comment associated thereto.
 23. Amethod as recited in claim 22, wherein the comment is stored on theserver in association with the image.
 24. A method as recited in claim22, wherein when an image is displayed the comment can be presented.